Susan Signe Morrison

I'm very excited that my historical novel, Grendel's Mother: The Saga of the Wyrd-Wife, is about to begin its blog tour. It doesn't need a passport or visa--and neither do you! I'll be posting more information in the coming days. And...bon voyage!

I have been ruminating about sheep. Rumination, to ponder about something, comes from the Latin ruminare, “to chew over again.” Sheep are ruminants. Metaphorically, humans are as well.
To see how sheep connect to medieval women, be sure to visit my blogpost by clicking on the link below the image to the left.

I'm delighted that Grendel's Mother: The Saga of the Wyrd-Wife is a Finalist for Foreward Reviews' 2015 Indiefab Book of the Year Award: Historical (Adult Fiction)

Find out how to make runes fun with 3rd-5th graders. Just click on the link below the photo!

A Julian of Norwich pilgrimage may not seem to have much to do with suspicions that I was an industrial spy (spoiler alert: I’m not!). My innocent journey to trace Julian’s life took on comic dimensions when I was a graduate student many years ago. Read more about it on my blog, amedievalwomanscompanion.com by clicking on the link below the photo.  Read More 

Story Circle’s Susan Wittig Albert reviewed A Medieval Woman’s Companion. She writes, “A Medieval Woman’s Companion is—I’m not exaggerating here—the best introduction I know of to the widely-varied lives of medieval women….Borrowing from the Irish poet Eavan Boland, [Morrison] reminds us that the past needs us: “That very past in poetry which simplified us as women and excluded us as poets now needs us to change it.”

And that, for Morrison, is the central point of all our learning and study and thought. As a teacher, she knows that “we need to understand the historical past of women to change the historical future of women … As women historians and chroniclers of women’s lives and writings, we … have our work cut out for us.”

As readers, too, we have our work cut out for us. And Morrison’s Companion is exactly the kind of guide we need for the journey.”

~ Susan Wittig Albert, Story Circle Book Reviews  Read More 

I hope you will come visit my new blog and website for A Medieval Woman's Companion: Women's Lives in the European Middle Ages. I will be blogging about medieval girls, teenagers, and women, their lives and cultures, and make connections to women today.

Here is a video in which my former student, now a Master's student at Western Michigan University, interviews me about my scholarly research and fiction writing.

Please read my blogpost about Elizabeth Elstob, an 18th-century woman whose Anglo-Saxon grammar book inspired Thomas Jefferson. She fought for her education at a time when it was difficult for women to do so. She asks, "If Women may be said to have Souls, and if good Learning be one of the Soul’s  Read More 

"Morrison gives us a fascinating account of love, family, honour, sorrow, war, tragedy, and of Gods old and new, in this beautifully written reimagining of Beowulf....One of the features of the book I enjoyed most was Morrison’s writing style. She skilfully combines Old English alliterative verse and modern English throughout the book to give the story an Anglo Saxon flavour and a haunting, eloquent feel to the narrative. [I]t adds depth, authenticity and character to the novel. Morrison is an Anglo-Saxonist, and professor of English literature; her talent for weaving modern language and Old English seamlessly shone through on every page. It never felt out of place.... Whether you’re a scholar of Old English, new to the subject, or just interested in early medieval historical fiction, Grendel’s Mother is a must-read book to add to any medieval reading list.

~Sandra Alvarez Medievalists.net Read More